Influence Of Home Video On The Moral Behaviour

Introduction

Background to the Study

The mass media, most especially television have gradually become a part of daily lives, and sources of information, education and entertainment have been described as the primary functions of the media. Folarin (2005) assigned three functions to the media: Surveillance of the Environment (the news function), correlation of the different parts of the Environment (the editorial function) and transmission of the cultural heritage from one generation to the other (the cultural transmission function).

Film was introduced into Nigeria in the 1900’s by the British colonialist who used it for propaganda purposes, while the church used it to spread the Gospel, The Colonial Administration and the Church saw film not only as a medium of entertainment but as an effective medium of communication (Akpabio, 2003). The British colonialist with the Christian missionaries used film amongst other media to persuade Nigerians to accept Christianity, education and the western culture.

On Monday, August 12, 1903, the first motion picture was shown in Nigeria at the Glover Memorial hall in Lagos by Mr. Balboa of Barcelona, Spain, under the management of a Nigerian, Herbert Macaulay, who later closed his exhibition in Lagos and left to continue showing films in other West African countries. After his departure, an enterprising European merchant, Stanley Jones, began to show films in the same Glover Memorial Hall, and he showed his first films in November 1903.Mgbejume, (1989) said gradually it grew and became popular in the 1960’s. The Nigeria Home Movie industry thus, began from there.

Childhood development can be a frustrating and a worrying time for the young people. Apart from changes that occur in their interest and moral interaction, defining them and describing their position in the changing world, these changes increase their self-awareness, self- identity and their moral recognition apprehension, (Block and Robins, 2009).

Childhood development stages are noticeable by relentless psychological and emotional stresses (Armett, 2008). As they develop from childhood to adulthood they tend to explore more and new ideas. These changes normally occur in both boys and girls; however, Randy (2011) found that more difficult experiences in transition are seen by girls and boys. This implies that television is one of the tools that help in establishing the adolescent behaviour and their opinions and moral interaction (Bryant, 2011). Television enables children to gain perspective to the liberal moral world. Children watch television to describe effective roles and behaviour of people in the society. Robert (1982) observed that television portrays girls as more passive than boys. In most cases, they are mostly concern with grooming and dating. Programmes on television such as soap operas reveal women as being mostly acted upon as compared to men (Caplovitz, 2002).

Early research on the effects of viewing violence on television especially among children found a desensitizing effect and the potential for aggression. Virtually since the dawn of television, parents, teachers, legislators and mental health professionals who wanted to understand the impact of television programs, particularly on children. As a result of 15years of consistently disturbing finds about the violent content of children‘s programs, The Surgeon General Scientific Adversary Committee on Television and moral behavior was found in 1969 to assess the impact of violence on the attitude, values, and behaviour of viewers. Onokome (2004) stated that violence is one of the effects of home video. Children who watch a lot of violent films are prone to violent acts. There is the belief that people often accept the fictional representation in the media for their vivid and demonstrative relay of pictures. The Home-video is popularly considered by many people as a school of violence as it has the ability to hold its audience better than any conventional school. Ekwuazi (2001) opined that when children identify themselves with admired aggressive heroes and heroines in the home videos and copy their behavior whenever a relevant situation arises, the child is most likely to perceive a particular link between media mediated fantasy and concrete reality.

Films were made for the viewing pleasure of Nigerians with messages to inspire, motivate, reprove, and correct anomalies especially in the political and moral systems, to eschew violence and all forms of evil. Home video viewing, however, provides an accessible domestic venue that extends the movie market to diverse mainstream audiences in cities and rural villages. Televisions are now common, and the homes of television owners often become crowded with extended family and friends gathered for an evening of watching movies. It is worthy of note that people as well as students have a more lasting impression of what they see and experience less difficulty in recalling. Home video has remained an instrument of entertainment, information and education. Omojuwa et al., (2009) opined that video programmes are not deliberately designed for instruction but for entertainment. Hence, the use of the film for academic instructions could affect school performance positively in acquisition and retention but there is no gain saying that the type of Yoruba home video films currently produced in Nigeria are not educational and therefore not motivating and beneficial to academic performance of secondary school students. It is with the foregoing background that this study set out to view the influence of home video watching on the moral behaviours of junior secondary school students in Adamawa State.

Statement of the Problem

The researcher observed that special concerns have emerged about adolescent‘s access to information on the video and television. Adults marveled at the dexterity of young people in secondary schools as they manipulate the keyboard. They spend hours in front of television watching films without in most cases parental control. These may pose serious challenge to their academic performance.

There are two extremes views about the influence of home video watching on moral behaviour of adolescents. At one extreme they are seen to motivate them to learn and become more explanatory in solving problems (Singer, 1993). At the other end they are blamed as a source of all contemporary ills as most information on the television are not well organized or regulate (Ilo, 2004).

In Nigeria, it was affirmed by National Foundation for Family Research (NFFR) (Awake, 2002) that adolescents engage in unprofitable cyber relationship. They were exposed to pornography and violence materials. Messages sent out on the television by many entertainment industries reflect values that one alien to our local culture and often promote materialism, crime, violence, immorality, adolescents are exposed to indecent dressing, models and video games.

The researcher observed that today‘s adolescents use video and television to communicate the way their parents use pens, postages stamps and telephone.

The new information society still relies on some basic non-technological competences that adolescents need to develop good communication skills, the ability to solve problems, thinking deeply and having positive attitudes. The amount of time the adolescents spend watching video and television is being challenged and extended in ways and at a speed that is inaccessible to their parents and teachers.

The moral behaviour of teenagers in Adamawa State, disrespect for adults, promiscuity and other moral misbehaviors among children aged 10-15 attracted the attention of the researcher and interactions tended to suggest that children watch Nigerian films and practice what they view. Feeling the need to find answers to their questions, adolescents are by nature in the age of wanting to know so begin to explore on their own. Friends, printed magazines and other media sources especially Nigerian movies. Thus these then become their main sources of information on various philosophical and value issues. These adolescents easily turn to the movies and the internet as research tools while exploring their own cultural, religious and spiritual beliefs. The movies provide them a new set of heroes and heroines whose thinking and insights they feel offer them better answers to questions that they feel uncomfortable discussing with parents or adults.

The expansion of Nollywood (Nigeria movie industry) and the alarming rate at which they produce calls for attention, Nigerian movies as a source of information and formation will likely become even more significant as availability increases. The effects of television on these students may be complex and too complicated to study thoroughly and then to specify cause- effect relationship.

It is a common practice that the film makers take time to warn the end users of such explicit content recommending it for different age groups but these videos are watched by everybody irrespective of the age restriction. Nigerian Nollywood movies have been accused of been portrayal of violence, and its adverse effect on the behaviors of Nigeria n youths and the society at large may be devastating. Some of the scenes are immoral scenes such as nudity, obscenity, use of vulgar language courses, indecent dresses, killings, murder, rape and molestation of women, smoking, and sexual harassment among others. These children do not stop their exploits on Nigerian movies alone but spend the greatest part of their time watching video and movies from outside the country. The world has eventually become a global village exposing the youth to various explicit cantered. The major concern is that these movies rather than ameliorating violent acts in the society tend to aggravate them. The researcher observed with dismay the way children in secondary schools in Adamawa state dress, talk and interact morally; there is a sharp decline from the normal moral norms expected of children in the State. The problem statement therefore is whether home video watching has influence on junior secondary school students‘ moral behavior.

Objectives of the Study

The general objective of this study is to determine the influence of home video watching on the moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state. While the specific objective are:

Determine the influence of home video viewed on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state.

Determine effect of time spent in home video viewing on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state

Determine the influence of types of video viewed on moral behavior of junior secondary school

Examine the difference between male and female opinions on the influence types of home video viewed on the moral behavior of junior secondary school students in Adamawa State

Assess the difference between male and female opinion on the influence of time spent in home video viewing on moral behavior of junior secondary school student in Adamawa State

Research Questions

As a guide, the following research questions were raised:-

What is the influence of types of video viewed on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state?

What is the influence of time spent in home video viewing on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state?

What is the influence of home video viewing on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state?

What is the difference between male and female on the influence types of home video viewed on the moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state?

What is the difference between male and female on the influence of time spent in video viewed on the moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state?

Research Hypotheses

The following null-hypotheses were raised in order to test the answers to the research questions.

H01. There is no significant influence of types of video viewed on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state

H02. There is no significant influence of time spent in home video viewing on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state

H03. There is no significant influence of home video viewing on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state

H04. There is no significant difference between male and female mean opinion on the influence types of home video viewed on the moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state.

H05. There is no significant difference between male and female on the influence of time spent in home video viewing on moral behaviour of junior secondary school students in Adamawa state

Significance of the Study

This research work is significant to the following: Students, Adolescents, Parents, Teachers and the general public:
Students: the research provide solutions toward good watching habits among children in the junior secondary schools. Adolescents; this research provide solutions toward curbing bad attitudes from peer groups.

Parents; the research provide parents with source of information on the influence of home video in the moral behaviour of children, as well as suggested possible solutions on the controlling prevalence among children. Teachers and the general public; the result of this work was significance to teachers and the general public through the suggestions and recommendations of the findings toward curbing control on good home video watching in our society.

Furthermore, the findings of this study is significant to the Ministry of education and communication through regulating what is being transmitted for public viewing by the media houses. A copy of this work was made available to the Ministry.

Basic Assumptions of the Study

The study was based on the following assumptions that:

Most young adolescents are addicted to watching home videos for prolonged periods of time.

Family background and Home video influences the secondary school student‘s behavior in Adamawa state.

Delimitation of the Study

The study is delimited to Influence of Home Videos watching on the Moral Behavior of Students of ages Ten to Fifteen (10 to 15) years in Junior Secondary Schools in Adamawa State of Nigeria. It was delimited to public junior secondary schools in Demsa, Numan, Yola North, Jada, Ganye and Yola south local government in Adamawa sate. This is because these groups of students will provide the researcher convenience in getting information on this study.